Kick-ass female film characters can help catapult the rights of women all over the world. They can spend the weekend fighting for their own stability. They can grieve with age and alcohol. Have you fight and kill in her honor. Run a hell of a long way to save your ass.
Lisbeth Salander – – – Män som hatar kvinnor (2009)
No offense to Rooney Mara and her gritty work in David Fincher’s American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but Noomi Rapace did it first. Surely, there were moviegoers that had a serious case of ‘been there, done that’ when Fincher’s version rolled into theaters around Christmas of 2011.
Lisbeth Salander is the type of character that everyone has an opinion of, and it’s virtually impossible to play that character without drowning out everyone else’s opinion. Noomi Rapace is a fierce animal as Lisbeth in the original version that was released in 2009. Her troubled past almost flashes across her face in every moment of the film. She could be ready to lash out at you or about to slink back into the shadows to the safety of her glowing computer screen. Sorry, Rooney – the original was better. – – – Joey Moser
Isadora Duncan – – – Isadora (1968)
Bias alert: Vanessa Redgrave is my favorite actress and her performance as Isadora Duncan in Karel Reisz’s severely mishandled film is arguably her best. Duncan was Mother Earth to the free spirit movement of both personal conduct and artistic expression that became iconic to the counterculture in the 60s, and Redgrave’s performance is nearly as fearless – and flawless – in its execution.
The role was a labor of love for the actress and follows Isadora from her beginnings as a can-can girl in the US to her emergence as a revolutionary in the art of dance across Europe and Soviet Russia in the 1920s, touching on a series of love affairs as they suited her aesthetic and socio-political tastes. The thirty-one-year old Brit actor, Redgrave, shines as the young and fearless Isadora, whether on stage or in bed or anywhere in between.
She truly astonishes as the aging, drunken diva past her prime speaking French with an American accent or tearfully reminiscing about the deaths of her children in a freakish auto accident. One of film history’s finest performances. – – – Steve Schweighofer
Lola – – – Lola rennt (1999)
Eighteen years ago, a German experimental low budget movie called Lola Rennt (Run Lola Run) garnered significant international success and made names out of leading lady Franka Potente, and director Tom Tykwer. He wrote and filmed the movie in less than a year, and the work tempo and energy clearly transferred to the movie.
The movie is split into three almost identical passages, a nod to video game format. Each version differs by a few choices Lola makes, influencing the outcome of each segment. Lola Rennt is set in Berlin in the late 90’s, a time of great change following German re-unification. She passes many building sites, showing a city being reborn, a bit like the running girl getting a new life in each new scene. Lola runs as fast as she can to save her slow-witted boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) from gangsters, and only has 20 minutes to do so.
As you might imagine, the first two attempts end badly, building the suspense for life three. All of her energy is kinetic, ever faster, ever more frantic. The mix of animation and live action works to good effect to underline the video game feel. Potente was not very sporty, a smoker, but that makes her all the more accessible and her determination means you’re rooting for her to make it. The tick tock of the clock running down is the constant reminder that the 20 minutes are almost up. Run Lola run! – – – Henny McClymont
Margot Tennenbaum – – – The Royal Tennebaums (2001)
The unfluctuating, cold as ice deadpan delivery of every utterance. The thick kohl eyeliner and full length fur coat. Margot is the elusive enigma simultaneously at the edge and heart of the Tenenbaum family, the outcast as well as the eccentric darling.
Not only does she give rise to the cultural understanding that chain smoking and flat denote a certain magnitude of ‘coolness’, but the psychosexual melancholy which is so far ingrained in her regular self lines the very fabric of her being and seethes from the plays she writes. Her carefree dalliances abroad may seem like rebellious promiscuity, but Margot is actually something of a champion of sexual freedom. – – – Rhiannon Topham
Kate Miller – – – Dressed to Kill (1980)
Brian DePalma’s iffy Psycho-ish reboot can boast one thing unequivocally: twenty minutes that contain a grand and brilliant performance by Angie Dickinson as Kate Miller, a classy housewife with an uncontrollable predilection for cruising for hookups in the best places. Most of her performance is contained within a long sequence that begins as a back-and-forth cat-and-mouse game in a museum, moves on to post-coital bliss only to be shocked back into reality and guilt, and eventually panic that leads to her obligatory demise in an elevator.
And all of it told without dialogue, only by expressions that register on Dickinson’s face. It’s a performance I never expected from this actor who somehow, late in her career, managed to snag the part of a lifetime and run with it. – – – Steve Schweighofer
Miho – – – Sin City (2005)
In Frank Miller’s graphic novel adaptation Sin City (co-directed by Robert Rodriguez) “The Big Fat Kill” chapter features Miho (played with sullen glory by Devon Aoki), a kind of slick ninja kitten not to be fucked with. When a small town is as corrupt as this one, with former police heroes and the mob seemingly on the same side of bad, the local enforcers, including a bunch of prostitutes and perhaps-hero Dwight, someone has to be stealthy and swift to clear up the mess.
Deadly Little Miho. Her initial presence in this indulgent noir is exhilarating: a hand is chopped off, swords pierce heads, and slices one other clean off. Rendered in black and white with splashes of color (gushing blood appears to be fluorescent white) makes such action sequences more graceful than gratuitous. Miho later saves Dwight’s ass a couple of times, pulling him up as he sinks into liquid tar, and silently sneaking up on the mercenary confronting Dwight before sticking it to him and twisting. “Miho, you’re an angel. You’re a saint.” – Dwight’s voice recalls, appearing more melodramatic than macho. – – – Robin Write